LaureateLeonard G. Herring (June
18, 1927 - )Inducted 1997
Leonard Herring helped build Lowe's Companies from a small
operation with few stores into one of the
top hardware/building supply chain store chains in the U.S.

Born
on June 18, 1927, in Snow Hill, NC, Leonard Herring
He graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill in 1948 with a bachelor's degree in commerce. He joined Weil
Department Stores in Goldsboro and served as finance officer from
1948-1955.
L. S. Lowe started a local builders supply store in 1921,
later turning over the enterprise to his son, James. In 1952, James sold
the company to his brother-in-law, Carl Buchan, who envisioned a chain of
stores.
Buchan began building a team and gradually opening more
stores. He hired Pete Kulynch and then enticed Leonard Herring to join the
growing firm.
In 1955, Herring went to work for Lowe's as a finance officer
and pension fund trustee. In 1956, Herring was named secretary and
treasurer.
In 1960, Lowe's had 15 stores and annual sales of $30
million. Buchan died and the remaining five top executives, including
Herring, decided to run the company through a committee.
The company went public in October 1961.
He served on Lowe's management committee from 1960 to 1978.
The company had grown to $800 million in annual sales and the executives
decided that operations needed to be restructured. Herring became president and CEO of the
company in 1978. Lowe's was listed on the New York Stock Exchange on
December 19, 1979.
Herring decided to grow the company by increasing its
do-it-yourself retail business, while retaining the building supply market
share. To build that market, Herring led the effort for a store department
credit card (1979) and new store redesign (1980). In 1984, Lowe's began
unveiling its larger store (24,000 sq. ft. which eventually grew to
100,000 sq. ft. in the 1990s.
Herring retired from the company in 1996. By then, the
company had grown to more than 365 stores and annual sales of more than $7
billion.